CLUAS Opinion

The Muscian's Role

In the 2nd CLUAS Opinion piece,
Californian John Ford - a committed John Kerry supporter - provides a timely
exploration of the importance of rock music and its role in politics, with a
particular focus on the role music is playing in the 2004 American Presidential
election.

I write from California. I spent my 20s in Los Angeles during the Reagan Era,
and it was hell. That administration was supporting death and torture squads in
El Salvador and Nicaragua, The environment was under attack. Far Right nuts were
being nominated to the Federal & Supreme Courts. The national debt was being
doubled and tripled (sounds like deja-vu all over again, huh?). I remember
feeling that it was the first time in our history that the following generation
would not have it better than their parents.

It felt like all music was political then. The local LA punk & club scene was
wild. Lots of inherently political shows by bands like X and the Dead Kennedys
(police helicopters, tear gas, night sticks - those were the days!). The Clash,
for five nights at the Hollywood Paladium, railed against Reaganism /
Thatcherism in the heart of comfortable California.
Springsteen's music & shows
progressed from personal dramas to dark tales of the decline of America, and he
began to include booths for Vietnam Vet organizations and food banks at his
shows. There were the big benefit tours: No Nukes shows, the Amnesty
International tour, anti-apartheid shows, anti-foreign policy (in Central
America) shows, a massive cross-cultural show at the LA Coliseum celebrating the
release of Mandela (he was the closer).

These were great, inspiring times - but President Reagan was re-elected, and was
followed by Bush senior. The horrors of their policies went on.

It's hard to exaggerate the importance of the upcoming US election, both for us
here in America and for the rest of the world. This election matters because the
current U.S. administration is so damned incompetent. They can't get things done
(except for rewarding billionaires and killing poor people). An America that
works with the rest of the world instead of against it will impact everyone.
Throwing out this incompetent crowd of reactionary zealots and voting in Mr.
Kerry's team will lead to less dead bodies at the hands of the U.S. We can start
to rebuild some credibility in the world regarding human rights, the value of
democracy, decreasing worldwide pollution, decreasing oil consumption and our
reliance on tyrannical regimes to supply our oil fix, etc. The world, not just
the U.S., will be a better place with President Bush out and President Kerry in.

For me, this election is all about my kids' future. They are going to be saddled
with enormous national debt, which equates as less opportunity in life. Much
more importantly, if President Bush is re-elected, they will inherit a country
with a weakened constitution (which is everything in America), with maybe four
more neo-Nazi Supreme Court judges, with more racial injustice, with more guns
everywhere, with more 'hooray for me, to hell with you'. They will travel the
world with a target on their back, as the enemy of the little guy. They will
inherit the guilt of America as oppressor. It's not only appropriate for artists
to be in an uproar over this election, it's imperative - and it's almost their
duty.

My take is that folks aren't so much upset at artists trying to influence the
political world; they're upset at rich, spoiled artists trying to tell us real
folks what to think. Also, this time around there are artists pushing for a
partisan candidate, instead of just protesting, in righteous indignation,
against some injustice. It's so much easier to be comfortably "anti-" than to
take a positive stand.

People didn't object so much when relatively poor artists like Odetta, Pete
Seeger or Woody Guthrie took strident political stands about civil rights, World
War 2, or The Depression. Guthrie wrote several partisan songs specifically
promoting F.D.R. and the New Deal.

It's a bit different when spoiled multi-millionaires preach to us about what's
best for the little guy, as they sip their brandy on the yacht. That's why there
is a very short list of pop artists that have the proven integrity to pull it
off. The artists on the Vote For Change
tour have said that they are uncomfortable openly advocating for Senator
Kerry, and don't do so lightly. The stakes have become so high, and the
potential catastrophe of another four years of neo-conservatism so worrisome,
that the partisan plea has become necessary. You don't get to vote against the
status quo; in our system you can only vote for the opposition. A non-vote ("I'm
not political") equals a vote for the bad guys.

One of my favourite artists-taking-a-political-stand stories is when John Lennon
upset the Left and the Right when he sang, in Revolution, about his rejection of
violence and of easy answers in our spirited quest to transform society, this at
the height of the counterculture movement, both hippy-peaceful and
Weather Underground-violent.
That's the artist challenging his audience's assumptions and beliefs - using his
platform to stimulate thought and maybe effect change. He's done his job; the
audience can do what they want with it.

I strongly disagree with the idea that pop artists should just entertain us and
not try to persuade us or 'enlighten' us. That was once the case, but The
Beatles and Bob Dylan changed all that. As did Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye,
when they smacked us with 'What's Going On', 'Talking Book', 'Innervisions',
etc. Pop music hasn't been the same since. What would our culture be without The
Clash making us squirm with 'Clampdown', or The
Pistols floating on a barge down the Thames during the Queen's jubilee, howling
'God Save The Queen'? Or Springsteen challenging us to look into ourselves for
hatred, on The Rising tour? Or U2
pleading for peace, love and understanding in Ulster and elsewhere? They're
doing their job as Bob Dylan defines it in 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall':

'And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin''

The key to all of this is the punk revelation that these artists aren't gods;
they are just intelligent people whose opinions we've learned to trust. Consider
what they are saying, do your homework, and use your own brain to decide. No one
is asking any listener to 'vote as I say', but to get involved and become aware
and make an informed choice.

Previous CLUAS Opinion pieces...

I
hate buskers. Hate them, hate them, hate them. Can't stand them. Won't
put up with them. Acoustic-guitar shouter on Grafton Street blocking
me going into Bewleys? Get out of my way! Doddery old accordion fella
on the Paris metro? Go off and do something productive like starting
a riot! Half-naked cowboy guy in New York? Pull up your pants, you eejit!
Read the full article...

The
majority of the music fed to the masses, sucks. It's watered down sufficiently
to appeal to as many people as possible, in order to offend as few as
possible, in order to shift as many units as possible, which is why
most entries into the charts are offensive. Dance is "cheesy" (or worse
still, "commercial", duh). Pop is dominated by boy bands, novelty songs,
runners up in reality TV shows and 2-dimensional 'stars?... Read the full article...

I
was driving home the other night to the missus, listening to Rufus Wainwright's
'Spotlight on Christmas', and it struck me that this simple song, originally
recorded for a MOJO Magazine Christmas themed CD, had more to say about
the core truths of Jesus Christ and Christmas than anything I've heard
from the Roman Catholic Church in quite some time. Read the full
article...

Alas,
another year has rolled by. It was a long period, when many a Euro had
been tossed towards the outstretched claws of music promoters and record
store employees. But, this is the time of the year that one should thank
them for stocking the music one wants, and for putting on the shows
that one desires to attend. It's also time highlight some of the unsigned
acts that have rapidly matured over the past twelve months. Of the many
who contested for one's attention, there were the following ten that
- for me at least - managed to stand out... Read the full article...

Mark
Feehily from Westlife recently revealed - via tabloid, naturally - that
he was gay. Being neither gay nor a Westlife fan, I had no feelings
of solidarity, shock or anything about it. Initially I gave it as little
interest as I do to Brian McFadden's nauseating attempts to cling to
celebrity status by moaning about it as publicly as possible. Read the full article...

It
has run the full gamut of description: from the ultimate marketing coup
to the end of music as we know it, a ring tone has crossed over to top
the singles chart. This has prompted a collective scratching of heads,
much comment on the thirty million spent promoting it and general sympathy
for Coldplay, who lost out in the race for the top spot. But before
we all run out to buy Coldplay's next single to right this abhorrence,
should we really be surprised that the music industry is more comfortable
doing business without an artist? Read the full article...

Here
they are. The ten songs every unreconstructed male should have close
to hand, preferably on a mix CD stashed in your sock drawer, to be played
only prior to emergencies (baby showers, distant relatives? funerals
and dinner with her friends). Read the full article...

Some
say that rock music, at least rock music with the balls to look you
in the eye and force a sigh, is dead and gone. They claim that it died
on a couch with Sid Vicious, in a lonely hotel room with Janis, growing
cold in a bath with Jim Morrison or twitching on a puke-stained bed
with Bonzo Bonham. Read the full article...

So
the sorry case of Michael Jackson surfaces again in our news. At the
time of writing he stands accused of an appalling crime, one that our
society rightly regards as indefensible and sickening. Jackson is, of
course, innocent until proven guilty. However, short of inventing a
cure for cancer, AIDS and the common cold in one pill, nothing that
he could do will ever redeem his reputation now, even if he is found
innocent. Read the full
article...

Once
upon a time, Whelan's of Wexford Street Dublin was considered to be
the coolest place to be. At its peak of popularity it was the heartbeat
of the Irish music scene. Mainstream and independent artists from various
genres have packed the venue over the years and played some memorable
shows. In the case of many music fanatics who regularly attend gigs
in Ireland, Whelan's was once hailed as their musical Mecca. Lately
though, the buzz around the place is slowly eroding away. Why is this?
What is going wrong? Read
the full article...

As
a nation of minstrels and planxties our respect and nostalgic soft-spot
for a one-man singer-songwriter has kept generations of mellow artistes alive. Singer/songwriter
syndrome has imbedded itself in the Irish music scene, with Damien Rice
and Mundy becoming our musical spokesmen. However it seems the day of
the man with a guitar singing of love and happiness is coming to an
end, threatened to be uprooted by a darker movement which has wrapped
its claws around the Irish underground. Make way for metal! Read the full article...

The
usual process for writing one of these Op-Ed pieces is that anyone writing
one of these sends a basic idea to Jules our Op-Ed-Editor so to speak.
If Jules gives the idea the nod, we then spend about two weeks hammering
it out into something vaguely coherent. This Op-Ed was originally supposed
to be a well researched and thought out piece on how copyright and recording
technology have changed modern music. Well nuts to that. Read the full article...

I
write from California. I spent my 20s in Los Angeles during the Reagan
Era, and it was hell. That administration was supporting death and torture
squads in El Salvador and Nicaragua, The environment was under attack.
Far Right nuts were being nominated to the Federal & Supreme Courts.
The national debt was being doubled and tripled (sounds like deja-vu
all over again, huh?). I remember feeling that it was the first time
in our history that the following generation would not have it better
than their parents. Read
the full article...

Roddy Doyle said recently in an interview in The Guardian
that Ireland doesn't produce great musicians. Considering that he is
currently promoting a novel centred on Louis Armstrong and American
jazz, it's possible that he may have been quoted out of a very broad
context. Nonetheless, he has a valid point. Read the full article...